Happy 20th anniversary Hunger Cleanup!
Almost 500 students packed the lower level of the Barone Campus Center at 9 a.m. Saturday, fueling up on bagels and donuts as they waited to be sent to their Hunger Cleanup work sites.
Groups were comprised of students from a variety of organizations around campus, including Circle K, Student Alumni Association (SAA), the Orientation Board, FUSA and sports teams, to name a few.
Volunteers were sent to approximately 35 different sites in the area where they performed a number of tasks, such as painting, cleaning and yard work. They then reconvened at the Levee for pizza, sandwiches, Chinese food and dessert, all donated by venues around town.
“The Hunger Cleanup is a project of the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness,” according to the project’s Web site . “The National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness is committed to ending hunger and homelessness in America by educating and engaging students to directly meet individuals’ immediate needs, while advocating for long-term systemic solutions.”
It is not surprising that volunteer work is one of the few things that would get so many Fairfield students up and congregated by 9 a.m. on a Saturday, based on Fairfield’s history with Hunger Cleanup.
During the past 20 years of the University’s affiliation with the event, the efforts of Fairfield’s Hunger Cleanup has been “recognized by the sponsoring Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness eight times as the Gold Medal Outstanding Campaign in the country against competing schools – once as the Silver Medal recipient, twice for most participants,” Carolyn Rusiackas, co-adviser for 20th Annual Hunger Cleanup and associate University chaplain, told The Mirror.
Among the volunteers was alumnus Max O’Meara ’53, who participated with his two grandchildren, and two former Hunger Cleanup chairs, Meghan Flanagan ’05 and Richie Gruffi ’03.
The phrase “20 for 20” was the slogan for this year’s event, a reflection of the hope that all volunteers would raise $20 for the 20th anniversary.
Former board members and participants donated from as far away as Illinois and Puerto Rico, according to Rusiackas, and while the goal is to raise $10,000, an overwhelming $9,436.69 has been raised so far; donations will continue to be accepted throughout the month of April.
“We anticipate and are optimistic that our goal of $10,000 can and will be reached,” said Rusiackas.
According to Meghan Shea ’08, chair of the 20th Annual Hunger Cleanup, money is going to agencies based in Fairfield and Bridgeport that deal with hunger and homelessness. The Restavex foundation, whose founder Jean-Robert Cadet spoke at Fairfield in March, funds the education of Haitian slave children; it will receive a donation as well.
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